Corbett says Pa. will help Perdue workers

Governor Tom Corbett says the state is ready to help 650 people who will lose their jobs when Perdue Farms closes a chicken-processing plant in Lebanon County and vacates a distribution center in Lancaster County.

Corbett released a statement after Perdue announced Wednesday that it will close the Booth Creek Natural Chicken plant in Fredericksburg and will move out of a distribution center in Denver that serves the BCNC plant.

The processing plant will close around March 14.

“Our job now is to immediately help those displaced workers become
re-employed,” Corbett said in the statement, “Our Labor and Industry Rapid Response
workforce teams are poised to help the workers at the plant find
employment.”

Officials with the Department of Labor and Industry have spoken with
local plants to help expedite the hiring process. State officials plan
on making contact with displaced workers next week.

Perdue said the smaller, older plant is insufficient for what it needs, so it is moving the work to newer facilities in other states.

The company is offering to transfer workers to its other plants, including ones in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, and is negotiating severance packages for other employees.